In conjunction with the interdisciplinary activities of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), a seminar series will be hosted at NIMBioS every other Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in the NIMBioS Lecture Hall on the 4th floor of 1534 White Ave., Suite 400 Seminar speakers will focus on their research initiatives at the interface of mathematics and many areas of the life sciences. Light refreshments will be served starting at 3 p.m.

Speaker:Judy Day, Dept. of Mathematics and Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Univ. of Tennessee

Topic:Complex immune responses: modeling and control

Abstract:
Host-pathogen interactions consist of a complex cascade of events involving a multitude of immune cells and molecules concentrated on the goal of eliminating the offending agent and restoring equilibrium. The immune response cannot always restore homeostasis on its own, and appropriate interventions are needed. However, the administration of therapeutics helping to guide desirable outcomes is not as precise as one might think. Tools such as Model Predictive Control (MPC) have been suggested as a way to systematically determine the correct timing and amount of therapies to achieve a specified health goal. In this talk I will give an overview of the modeling of several immune event cascades instigated by various pathogens such as a generic gram-negative bacterium (to study systemic inflammation), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb), and Bacillus anthracis (anthrax). In addition, I will introduce the MPC methodology applied to a four dimensional ordinary differential equations model of systemic inflammation and discuss the importance of modeling efforts like these in translational medicine.

*Join us for refreshments in the NIMBioS Lobby on the 4th floor at 3 p.m.

NIMBioS is sponsored by the
National Science Foundation
through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.